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Becht has the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program, STAR-CCM+ as part of our suite of software packages. STAR-CCM+ is capable of handling 3D or 2D, time dependent, multi-phase flow problems with a variety of turbulent models to choose from. It also can integrate with our FEA package, Abaqus, for a coupled approach of solving fluid-structure mechanics interaction problems.

One application for STAR-CCM+ is modeling flow through valves to calculate the pressure drops. It can dynamically move open and close the valve during the analysis to calculate pressure drops at different conditions. It can record data at multiple points or create a movie of the flow.

Figure 1 (click) shows a screenshot of one of the frames from a movie output of a valve. Such a movie output of streamlines over time provides us a strong view of any potential problem areas in the valve or any object that is being analyzed.

Another application that Becht has used STAR-CCM+ in is for guillotine pipe ruptures. These are best handled with a 2D model because of the uniform dispersion of contents from a fully ruptured pipe. The 2D model allows for refinement of the mesh and also allows for the use of smaller time steps which can more accurately track the pressure wave propagation through the cavity in which the steam is dispersing. Data is recorded to address a number of potential concerns a blast wave presents. The first of which is the pressure time history directly in-front of the rupture location as shown in Figure 2. Another important parameter to check is the reflection multiplier of any corners or walls, as shown in Figure 3. Finally the overall movement of the blast wave can be tracked as shown in Figure 4